Discovering 3107 London

When you can start your weekend off with brunch in a London brasserie, at a table set with fresh flowers, linen napkins tied with lavender and surrounded by some of the friendliest people in the beauty industry you know it’s going to be a good one.

Being greeted with an outpouring of warmth and enthusiasm from Dija Ayodele and sampling her organic skincare made it a great one. There’s no doubt that the unique selling point here is Dija herself. She’s a facialist, an alchemist and a beauty blogger and her personality shines with all the qualities you look for in a BFF.

She told us how working as a facialist she’d wanted to create affordable products that felt indulgent. Her story about how a time she needed to treat her own skin and abandoned a whole drawer full of skincare products to reach for pure ingredients to calm and care for her skin. This was the beginning of her creating her artisan skincare range 3107 London. By her own admission the range is tiny, just two products, but she’s in no rush to bring out a whole pile of products – she wants to get things right.

As she described the products she managed to convey how they felt on the skin. She explained how the My Everything Face Elixir is designed to sooth and calm to give your skin that “aaah!” feeling when your skin drinks in the moisture and you breath in the scent. The blended botanicals are there to support the skin’s healing process and French lavender and Roman chamomile to soothe and comfort. My experience was exactly that and I smiled to myself as I applied it that evening, catching myself in the mirror saying “aahhh!” It’s available on line here£29.99.

I knew that I’d like the Heart & Soul Deep Cleansing Make Up Remover as soon as I heard Dija’s description of how she uses it. I’ve been using cleansing balms to remove my make up for some time now. I apply with my finger tips warming the balm by massaging it into my skin and then removing with a hot flannel and following up with a gel or foaming cleanser. So I was glad to hear that Dija recommends exactly the same, explaining that a muslin cloth can be used but it doesn’t hold the heat quite so well and doesn’t have quite the right texture to gently exfoliate as you remove the balm. I felt quite pleased with myself for having found this method myself!

The balm is designed to dissolve and remove make-up, daily grime and pollution and is scented with lemongrass and geranium. It’s a delightful product that can be applied as a mask too. You can find it here£34.99.

We got he chance to ask Dija a few questions and managed to tease out some exclusive information about some future products that ate in the pipeline and being tested on willing volunteers right now. She didn’t give away too many details but you should look out for a cleansing oil, a floral spray with zinc, and something for radiance! I can’t wait! And I know that with Dija’s dedication to getting things just right we’ll be in for a treat!